A Mapper's Delight

September 5 – October 14, 2017 • California College of the Arts • Hubbell Street Galleries Maximum Distance. Minimum Displacement. investigates the role systems play in the generation of form and specifically how the data drawn from a linguistic analysis of hip-hop reveal a layer of aesthetics that are music related yet non-musical. The result […]

The rapper Nas is commonly characterized as the consummate storyteller. In order to tell a story you need a location. Which would explain why while not having the largest number of songs, Nas still has the largest number of geo-locations of the 12 artists analyzed.

Jay-Z’s mentions of Bali, Brooklyn, Cali, Capri, Chi-Town, Detroit, England, France, Hollywood, Japan, London, St. Bart, Switzerland & Tokyo in the song Around The World earned it the song with the most geo-locations. That long arc on the left is made from the drama of moving along 3 distant paths: “40/40’s out in Tokyo” […]

Kendrick Lamar’s analysis is culled from the lyrics of his underground & independent albums and is heavy with Compton references. Over the next few years it will be interesting to see how mainstream successes and personal experience change the travel of his lyrics.